Microsoft announced at Gamescom 2015 that it's getting close to checking off another item high up on the wishlist at the Xbox Feedback site. The Xbox One's OneGuide will finally be updated with a DVR to go along with the OTA (Over The Air) TV tuner Microsoft introduced for the console earlier this year.
Now, Xbox One owners will have the ability to record OTA broadcast while they're playing a game, on the go or temporarily relieved of control of the living room.
"From your Xbox One, you can stream recorded TV shows to other devices, either via the Xbox app on Windows 10, or through Xbox SmartGlass for iOS and Android," Microsoft says. "Even better, you can also download shows to your Windows 10 phone, PC or tablet so you can watch them on an airplane, on a bus - really anywhere - even without an Internet connection."
While away from their consoles, Xbox One owners can still schedule and reschedule recordings via the Xbox App on a Windows 10 device, including Windows 10 mobile hardware, or by using the Xbox SmartGlass app on their Android and iOS mobile devices. Remote users can add, edit and review scheduled recordings from any of the aforementioned devices.
And while it'd be nice to have DVR capabilities before this upcoming football season, this year isn't the year for it as the feature will be deployed at some point in 2016.
"We're looking forward to bringing you this feature as a subscription-free service in 2016.* Stay tuned for more," says Microsoft. "After purchasing the necessary hardware, there are no monthly service fees for OneGuide or over-the-air DVR services."
The DVR service was the only intriguing Xbox One feature to be overshadowed by a first-party filled Xbox presentation at Gamescom. Microsoft announced that backwards compatibility will finally launch in November and Xbox Chief Phil Spencer later explained why some big publishers such as Konami and Take Two Interactive have no game in the back catalog just yet.
"We're having great conversations with all the publishers about backward compatibility," said Spencer. "It's really been a good time for something like backwards compatibility to come around, because so many of the publishers have built more service-based games where they're able to find a business opportunity in the longevity of games."
